I have a Canon 550D which is great but I need many extras to make it useful:
I have a Zacuto optical viewfinder which is good for focus (but that's about all). I have various stabilization (dolly, steadiecam etc) but the camera on its own is very light and needs a handheld rig to make it more useful - I don't know yet what to go for.
I am using kit lenses which are ok - but not very practical for cinema (also only go down to 3.5f).
Audio is an issue. I have a Rode videomic and a sep. boom setup - but I now need to consider the Magic lantern firmware to remove the auto gain issues as I don't want to deal with a sep. audio track.
A focus puller would be useful too although you can get away with holding the lens...
I am using Red Giant Magic Bullet Grinder to transcode to ProRess 422 for editing in FCP.
Thoughts?

I think I want one of these too:

Antone using this and has any feedback?

You can get a decent quality Canon 50mm lens @ 1.8f I think for a few hundred dollars at Photo and Video. Really useful for low light etc.

Am also shooting on DSLR (Canon 60D) but have gone down the seperate audio route with a Tascam DR-100. Might take a little extra time but the quality's way better.

Would recommend mainly using a tripod for the majority of shots with a DSLR due to the jellocam effect.

Is jellocam a potential element for this year? If so, you go girl!

in reply to mikedensem:

I've found that using some simple audio effects on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 helps to get rid of the auto gain that happens when using an external mic on my Canon 550D. EQ and DeNoiser do a pretty good job of reducing the gain to a level that is hardly noticeable.

in reply to SkooterManProd:

Thanks for the tip.
My big concern is when the gain ramps up in the silence and crushes the start of the first new sound (vocal). Not sure hopw to deal with that.

this thread made me curious enough to install magic lantern on my 550d. Most of the features are still pretty rough. I don't know that any of the focus or assist modes would do me much good, but the manual audio controls worked just fine. Definitely worth considering for 48 hours if yer gonna shoot on 550d.

in reply to zzzzzzz:

Yes, I'm going to do it too (nervous). Did you run into any issues? Do you know if you can undo this later?

So this will be my first year editing with DSLR media, my mates got a 500d that well be using.

The stats of my pc arent great, and I've got a codec Matrox Mpeg2 I-Frame HD that I'm currently using to convert the .mov files to a format that allows me to edit them without lag.

But, im still experiencing significant lag. If there's a way I can edit these files without buying a whole new computer by the competition that would be great. I understand that may not be an option and I may have to upgrade or find someone with better gear. But I was wondering If anyone had any suggestions, perhaps for a codec or settings within a codec, that might help with my problem.

My pc's stats are (dont laugh):

Intel Core Duo Processor T5450
(1.66ghz, 667 mhz fhb 2 MB L2 Cache)
(up to) 1024 MB ATI Mobility Radeon
HD 2400 XT HyperMemory

2 GB DDR2

in reply to Searlo:

decent quality Canon 50mm lens @ 1.8f

I love my 50mm 1.8f with its hard stops (only time it is off the camera is when I'm shooting stills).
But on a 60D its the same as a 85mm, which makes it more telphoto than wide.

Check out Shane Hurlbut's intro to DSLR http://www.hdslrhub.com/

With gran/noise = (on Canon's) use native ISOs and turn camera off often so it can cool down (a hot sensor is a noisy sensor). If you can see the noise on the back LCD then it is really bad.

Problem with most on line tuts/videos online, they are aimed at the beginner.

I have a professionally constructed DSLR document, as a PDF, made by users of DSLRs for new users.
Very detailed document, full of very helpful advice (lighting, lenses, f/stops, workflow, file types, audio etc) about getting the most from your DSLR.

If you would like a copy (free, of course, as a 12mb file) just PM me or write to

V48Hoursdunedin@clear.net.nz

Cheers.

Hi craig, your email doesnt work. It got bounced back multiple times. Can you email me the doc? camera.operator2009@gmail.com.

Cheers

err, sorry, my bad, try this

v48hoursdunedin@gmail.com

and yep, doc on its way, hungrypencil.

Oh for goodness sake, get your own DSLR Document from here....

https://rapidshare.com/files/459194745/DSLR_Cinematography_Guide.pdf

Its free and spam free. Just click slow download, it'll only take a minute or so.

And while you're at it, leave my bloody bandwidth alone! :-)

in reply to mikedensem:

Hey Mike,

I didn't run into any issues with magic lantern. Found some youtube video walking through it for mac users. Followed it, and viola.

As to "uninstalling", the firmware in the camera only has a tiny change to it that tells it to look onto the sd card and run software run it if it is there. The practical side of it is if you stick an sd card into the camera without the software? The camera operates exactly as it would without any "hack". At any time you can format your sd card and wham, magic lantern is for most purposes, "gone".

the down side is that you have to install the software on every sd card you want to use with the camera and magic lantern.

To fully get rid of it, just upgrade the firmware to any regular canon firmware.

I'm not totally sold on it, but its worth considering. I'm fairly used to dual sound from shooting on dslr, film and red, but it WAS a pain last year when were shooting car to car with wireless audio. It meant we didn't bother slating everything and since our script was in spanish, the editor did go a little nuts.

in reply to zzzzzzz:

Hey zzzz(etc),
I installed ML on my 550D. It seems ok. The audio features are the most useful to me.
There seem to be many many builds though so I may look into other useful features in another release.

hi people,

take alook into technicolor cinestyle pf too;
http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/cinema/filmmaking/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle

I find s-log potentially dangerous on dslr but gonna try it anyways.. you'll need a LUT to view it in rec.709 w/ lut buddy f.ex. in FCP etc.

I've also used Shawn's gamma curves (www.lightillusion.com) and several others that are around the net - very much worth investigating if you plan to shoot on DSLR.

and remember.. bad monitors (such as computer ones) do not represent accurately what is going to be over in the big screen so it might be better trying to bake in the look & match only...

Ok, so that all worked fine.
Camera - 550D
Transcode to ProRes 422
Edit in final cut - with ProRes sequence (48khs)
Export to H.264 etc.. (40 min)

Got it in with 45min to spare.

No grade, no effects, quick musical score.
NEVER WORK WITH CHILDREN...

in reply to mikedensem:

I used magic lantern on my 550D and it was flawless. I love it. You really have to update it to the latest build though. Some of the functions in the older builds are a bit glitchy.
For the 48 hours, it's great to be able to record sync sound that isn't noisy or messed up by AGC and it's got some other useful features. I love getting stuff for free. If you were paying for some device that did the same things as magic lantern, you'd be shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars.